Chrome for Mac finally arrives in beta, sort of

Google has announced availability of an official Chrome for Mac browser preview, based on version 4 -already available for Windows but not for Linux or OSX, but is advising people not to try it.

At this page, Google says: "Google Chrome for Mac is in development and a team of engineers is working hard to bring it to you as soon as possible. Please enter your email address below and we'll let you know when it's released."

Google then adds: "An early developer channel version is now available! While it's not at beta quality (in particular, it can't print yet and plugin support isn't quite stable), it is coming along nicely. If you want to try it right now, see Early Access Release Channels for download instructions."

Google co-founder Sergey Brin made the announcement of the availability of build 4.0.223.8 at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, but admitted he was disappointed by how long it had taken to arrive.

"The timing of that has been one of the disappointments of Chrome project for me," said Brin in response to a question from the audience. "I am using Chrome for Mac [and] a Mac version is available for the public, but it's only an early developer version, not in a real beta testing for the public."